I need to float my wifes .243 and was curious what everyone uses for their inletting tools? The only rifle I floated before was a Rem700 .270 and it required only a very minor modification to the stock to get a nice floating barrel. I used a dremel with some larger round cutters. My wifes gun looks like it will take some fairly major trimming of the inlet to get it to float.

I know of the inletting tools available from midway and sinclair and agree if you are doing alot of rifles thats the ticket but for the occasional job, what are you guys using?

G'Day Dallan. I have "floated" my .22, but luckily it has a wooden stock so I simply used varying grades of garnet and sand paper to achieve the desired result and finish. Made a half round block from some cork to retain some shape. This was a little bit tedious but it worked ok.

For a measurement of the amount of float I used a business card. Slid it down between the barrel and stock marking tight spots with a pencil mark on the stock. Removed the stock and "revisited" the tight spots.

Once I had floated the barrel I bedded the action using Dexron, an epoxy material that sets like metal. I then rechecked the float space again to ensure uniformity and adjust as required.

Worked well with a wooden stock. Now as for my Weatherby .243 with a synthetic stock I suppose I would have to get a Dremel or similar with cutters. As the Vanguard doesn't have a bedding block I would use pretty much the same process as above.

I'll be very interested to read what others have to say here as I am really inexperinced and would like to know if what I have done is incorrect or unsuitable.

DallanC: most of us will probably own numerous bolt action rifles during our stay on this little blue planet. The barrel channeling tools are superb investments and will be used many times over, justifying their cost. I bought two for different diameters. I bought mine used for $20. I use a Dremel, too, but more in a finishing capacity.

If working with wood, once the channel is correct I seal it to preclude any warpage and add enough coats to make it impervious to water.

Your local hardware store has sandpaper of various grits and wooden dowels of varying diameters. Get the shortest dowels that are close to the barrel diameters and work with them. Start with 50 grit sandpaper and go to 100 grit to finish it off. With a tapered barrel you will have to change dowels as you move toward the muzzle but you can make it look seemless.
You can also get some round rasps for working with auto body putty that work for the rough work. These you can get today at less money than the stock inletting tools that you will have to wait for delivery.

I agree with PaulS and use dowel stock of various diameters and medium to fine grit sandpaper. I work the barrel channel carefully and keep checking the clearance with a piece of newspaper. When finished, I seal the wood with boiled linseed oil and several coats of Tru-Oil. All the best...
Gil

First thing I do is determine how I want the gun to fit in the stock....not how it came fom the factory but how I want it to fit. Next fine out how it currently fits and what I have to do to get to the desired results. Dremel tool with several different style rotary burrs will remove wood where I need to remove it from the bedding area. I like to do the bedding with Devcon SS at least 1/8 " thick and more around the recoil lug area. The Devcon is thick enough to let you get the fit you want and still do a great job of bedding. For the barrel channel I use a wooden dowel and sand paper unless I need to remove alot of wood. More specifics available if you'd like...........

Hey, If you have the time and money the proper tools always make the job easier. The results you get will be the same so long as you take care and do it slowly.
As far as sealing the wood afterwards linseed oil or tung oil are both fine to use but remember that the oil will add weight to the wood and swell it some too. Always double check your clearances at the range after firing a few rounds to heat the barrel. You may find that the wood warps just enough to cause interference and more wood will need to be removed. I did with my 30-'06 but I didn't need to with my 358 Win. It depends on the wood and grain.
Have fun with it and then let us all know how it turned out!

Dallan,
Your talking a factory wooden stock, right?
If the rifle has a sporter weight barrel and the stock uses a pressure point you may only need to remove the pressure point to free float the barrel. Some rifles shoot better with the pressure point removed, then again sometimes it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference either way. I often test factory rifles to see how well they will respond to floating by placing several pieces of business card stock under the front and rear of the action (near the action hold down screws). The object is to raise the action and barrel away from the stock enough to clear the pressure point. Before you do all this, if the barrel is touching one side of the stock (anywhere 2â€ foward of recoil lug) you may want to go ahead and open up the whole barrel channel.
When removing the factory pressure point or opening a barrel channel, one problem you may run into: If the action is not correctly bedded (setting in the stock unevenly), it may tend to pull to one side of the stock or even bind the action when tightened down. If this is the case then the action will need to be epoxy bedded also. This is not a real major job it does take time to do correctly.

You have gotten several good replies already.
Below is one tool I have used for several years now. A very simple design and easy to work with.

Quote::

Gunline Barrel Bedder Junior Kit
The Barrel Bedding Junior has the same chatter free system as the standard Barrel Bedding Tool but with a quick change disk feature. The single handle tool is complete with pin, retainer and screw for changing and securing the cutter disks. Quick-change disk system includes 6 each of 1/2" disks, 5/8" disks and 3/4" disks. Also includes 15 rubber spacers, 5 for each size of disk.

round rasp then sand paper. I did my .270 with sand paper only but got stuck in to the .223with a rasp 1st and gave it a decent clearance 2-3mm I may just do the .270 again to give it a bit more just because this thread has got me thinking I may need to.

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I've done it both ways. For minor jobs, the dowel and sandpaper method works well. I do quite a few over time so invested in a Gunline Junior Bedding tool and an assortment of cutter sizes. I chose the Junior set because the cutters are relatively inexpensive and easy to switch.

When sealing the barrel channels (or other non-visible areas) I use polyurethane to not only seal the wood but protect it from oils and etc.

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